scott123

Norma, with your fair concession experience, I think you're in a unique position to offer invaluable information here. Neapolitan Slices or 9" pies? What would you charge for a pie? York feels very amusement park-y/Six Flaggy, and I know from my own experience, amusement park food is basically double the price. I think it's more than movie theaters, which, in itself, is pretty ridiculous. York, in your experience, most likely had a considerably higher markup than a town store/strip mall, right? Lorain has less of an amusement park feel, but I still think it's going to be marked up.

I would price a pizza with a water/soda for $10 and $9 without the drink. It's a fair, prices are high, and you're producing a quality product. Make sure you have a large high quality picture of your pizzas so people know what your making and you'll have something to point to when you hear the "you burned mine" comments. You can always reduce your price on day 2-end. For that matter if the demand is too high you can increase your prices. Don't sell yourself cheap though.

Norma, with your fair concession experience, I think you're in a unique position to offer invaluable information here. Neapolitan Slices or 9" pies? What would you charge for a pie? York feels very amusement park-y/Six Flaggy, and I know from my own experience, amusement park food is basically double the price. I think it's more than movie theaters, which, in itself, is pretty ridiculous. York, in your experience, most likely had a considerably higher markup than a town store/strip mall, right? Lorain has less of an amusement park feel, but I still think it's going to be marked up.

Scott,

I am not really a good person to judge if Larry should just sell Neapolitan Slices or just 9Ē pies, or both. I have no idea what prices they are charging for food products at the fair Larry is going to. I know fair prices are really high for foods though. I know at York Fair where you are located also makes a big difference. If you arenít located on the main mid-way, or near it, sales arenít as good. Yes, in my experiences, the foods at events like Larry is going to had a considerably higher mark-ups on food prices than a town store/ strip mall business. I always thought the prices were ridiculous. Even at the Arts & Crafts festival I went to at Rootís market last year, the food vendors had high food prices. The man next to me traveled all around the country basically selling noodles with veggies cooked in woks. I think his price for the noodles and veggies in a small container were around 8.00, if I recall right. I had posted about that on the forum before. In my opinion food prices at bigger fairs are about the same as amusement parks. We also went to the Ephrata Street Fair for a number of years and their prices were high too.. http://www.ephratafair.org/ At Rough and Tumble food prices were also high. http://www.roughandtumble.org/reunions/2012/2012_promo.asp We also went to a lot of smaller festivals were prices were lower.

I have no idea how the fair Larry is going to operates. Maybe other food vendors can talk to Larry about what happens at that fair. I know the York Fair has been affected by the economy in recent years, by the number of people that go there. I also know at the one big street fair in Harrisburg, Pa. a lot of vendors quit in the last few years because of the economy.

scott123

I don't know how much this helps, but I noticed that Brantley Gilbert, one of the acts playing at the fair, is also playing the Illinois state fair. In Lorain, all tickets are $27, while in Illinois, tickets start at $45. When he plays coliseums, tickets start at $70. Food isn't entertainment, but, based on this, I'd say the markup on food is probably less in Lorain than Illinois or York.

In addition to selling whole pies, consider the people who see your delicious pies and want some, but don't feel up to eating an entire pie. Sell them slices at $2.00 per slice. Make sure the slice is easily managed with one hand.

Many times at an event that offers various food vendors I'd like to try as many different foods as possible so I'm always looking to spend a few dollars here and there on small portions of food I can easily hold in one hand while walking around. I'm more than happy to hand over $2 for a little snack. Sometimes I think it's better to pay $2 as opposed to $1.50 or $1.75 because it's a fast and easy transaction with no time wasted making or handling change.

NP is not like NY when it comes to slices. You are not going to have them sitting around waiting to be reheated, and you can't bake whole pies to sell one slice. If the $8 price is an issue, I'd set the price at $7 before I even thought about selling slices.

That's exactly how I would do it. Have a pile of pre made 8" pizza's so that people don't have to wait (margherita & marinara). You need to go very light on the toppings; especially the sauce. Fold it, wrap in peach paper, pay & see ya. Just like they did in Naples years ago. I would charge $7 for the marinara & $8 for the margherita.

In addition to selling whole pies, consider the people who see your delicious pies and want some, but don't feel up to eating an entire pie. Sell them slices at $2.00 per slice. Make sure the slice is easily managed with one hand.

Many times at an event that offers various food vendors I'd like to try as many different foods as possible so I'm always looking to spend a few dollars here and there on small portions of food I can easily hold in one hand while walking around. I'm more than happy to hand over $2 for a little snack. Sometimes I think it's better to pay $2 as opposed to $1.50 or $1.75 because it's a fast and easy transaction with no time wasted making or handling change.

AYKM! I don't know about fairs in your area but at the fairs around here you would have a hard time finding any food for $1.50! A hot dog will set you back $4.00! A bottle of water, $3.00.

thanks to all for their input. first my situation is a little different than most fair vendors.they either travel from fair to fair or they have businesses that slow down fair week because their cliental are at the fair.my pizza joint in oberlin gears up for the return of the college students.today we got an order for catering lasagna for 175 people monday of fair week and 175 12 inch pies Wednesday of fair week. so that adds a lot of extra work to my staff and myself. i want to keep it simple 9 inch wood fired pie, cheese or pepperoni at 7 to 8 dollars. it will feed one to two people.i will not advertise it as neapolitan just wood fired.it will be cut into 4 pieces and placed on a nice heavy paper plate as shown in the picture.each cut can be folded and eaten alone or shared. pizza by the slice goes for 3.00 at the other fairs. i think this 9 inch pizza will be the equivalent to a couple of slices. at 7 dollars it will be worth the slightly extra cost in its freshness and quality. matts idea of pre cooking a run and reheating is something i may have to do to keep up with certain peek periods.as i have never done this i am shooting in the dark.my first day i will have enough dough and ingredients for 300 pizzas. with backup 8 miles away in oberlin. help wise i have plenty of non skilled workers to take money, cut and serve. stretching, and oven tending is going to be a challenge. with the 9 inch size i should be able to cook 4 at a time. when this is over with i may not ever want to see another wood oven.